rec meanwhile, japan, south korea and the united states recently activated their missile defense systems in response to north korea's long-range missile response. yet another reminderthat that te threat doesn't stand still. and in response to iran's longer-range ballistic missiles, nato has agreed to support the deployment of short, medium and long-rage ballistic missiles iranianth nuclear blackmail. so the benefits of defense are well appreciated, especially by those most directly affected or threatened. it's possible to hit a bullet with a bullet. a we've debunked the cold war argument that missile defenses contribute to a new arms race. in fact, since the united states withdrew from the abm treaty, we have reduced the number of deployed nuclear weapons from 6,000 to 15150 under -- 1550 under the new s.t.a.r.t. treatyn we must continue to demote theis notioning that u.s. vulnerability is a source of stability when, in fact, the most important constitutionalnsi and moral duty of any president is to protect the american people. we've made some progress in pro deploying ballistic missile